# Clap Board Operator Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 27, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695 "2015-09-27T14:47:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/1 "2015-09-27T14:47:09Z")
What else does the person who operates the sync slate (clap board) do during a film’s production? Is that their only job? And what is the name of their job in the film’s credits?
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/2 "2015-09-27T15:54:16Z")
> **[Clapper loader](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapper_loader)**
>
> A clapper loader or second assistant camera (2nd AC) is part of a film crew whose main functions are that of loading the raw film stock into camera magazines, operating the clapperboard (slate) at the beginning of each take, marking the actors as necessary, and maintaining all records and paperwork for the camera department. The name "clapper loader" tends to be used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, while "second assistant camera" tends to be favored in the United States, but the job is ...
"A clapper loader or second assistant camera (2nd AC) is part of a film crew whose main functions are that of loading the raw film stock into camera magazines, operating the clapperboard (slate) at the beginning of each take, marking the actors as necessary, and maintaining all records and paperwork for the camera department. "
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/3 "2015-09-27T16:06:09Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> [Clapper loader - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapper_loader)
>
> "A clapper loader or second assistant camera (2nd AC) is part of a film crew whose main functions are that of loading the raw film stock into camera magazines, operating the clapperboard (slate) at the beginning of each take, marking the actors as necessary, and maintaining all records and paperwork for the camera department. "
Thanks Andy. What does “marking the actors as necessary” mean?
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### Author:  [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/4 "2015-09-27T16:11:19Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> Thanks Andy. What does “marking the actors as necessary” mean?
Peeing on them.
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/5 "2015-09-27T16:14:37Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> Thanks Andy. What does “marking the actors as necessary” mean?
A “mark” is the spot on the ground where the actor is supposed to be, often indicated by tape on the ground. I presume that “marking the actors” is the act of putting that tape on the ground.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/6 "2015-09-27T18:06:22Z")
By the way, if you want to know how important the clapper boards can be, look at the [long history](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sydney-pollacks-amazing-grace-tortured-820294) of the 1972 documentary that Sydney Pollack shot of an Aretha Franklin concert in Los Angeles. He shot twenty hours of footage but forgot to bring clapper boards to the shoot, so it was nearly impossible to synchronize the pictures and the sound. Recently computers have helped synchronize the footage, but Aretha Franklin has been fighting the release of the documentary.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/7 "2015-09-27T18:29:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> By the way, if you want to know how important the clapper boards can be, look at the [long history](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sydney-pollacks-amazing-grace-tortured-820294) of the 1972 documentary that Sydney Pollack shot of an Aretha Franklin concert in Los Angeles. He shot twenty hours of footage but forgot to bring clapper boards to the shoot, so it was nearly impossible to synchronize the pictures and the sound. Recently computers have helped synchronize the footage, but Aretha Franklin has been fighting the release of the documentary.
Couldn’t one just find some event in the film – someone closing a door; someone setting a coffee cup down on a table; or similar – that could be used to synch the entire take with the sound?
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/8 "2015-09-27T18:35:47Z")
I assume they tried that. The article mentions that the choir director from the concert tried to lip-read to synchronize the footage but that after spending months on it, they didn’t have even one entire song.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/9 "2015-09-27T19:38:39Z")
Many years ago I was at one of the No Nukes concerts in NYC. Above the stage, out of view for most of the audience, were digital displays that showed hour/minute/second/frame. I presume one channel of the audio tape was recording this data and every so often the video camera operators would tilt back or up to catch a second or few of the display.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/10 "2015-09-27T20:09:56Z")
> [@leahcim](#):
>
> A “mark” is the spot on the ground where the actor is supposed to be, often indicated by tape on the ground. I presume that “marking the actors” is the act of putting that tape on the ground.
Makes sense to hand that job to the camera crew, since marks are often critical to tight focus shots.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/11 "2015-09-27T20:11:44Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> …part of a film crew whose main functions are that of loading the \*\*raw film stock \*\*into **camera magazines**
What are these strange objects of which you speak?
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### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/12 "2015-09-27T20:25:43Z")
> [@vd](#):
>
> Peeing on them.
Arf! Arf! _wags tail_
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/13 "2015-09-27T20:26:59Z")
> [@leahcim](#):
>
> A “mark” is the spot on the ground where the actor is supposed to be, often indicated by tape on the ground.
These are the “marks” that actors are talking about when they say things like “Show up on time, know your lines and hit your marks,” right?
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/14 "2015-09-27T20:28:01Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> What are these strange objects of which you speak?
In the old days, we used to read paper \*magazines \*(kind of like blogs, but static) about cameras, and get a greasy \*film \*on the pages from our fingers. A little-known job of 2nd ACs is to carefully polish the grease off each page for the next reader.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/15 "2015-09-27T20:31:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> In the old days, we used to read paper \*magazines \*(kind of like blogs, but static) about cameras, and get a greasy \*film \*on the pages from our fingers. A little-known job of 2nd ACs is to carefully polish the grease off each page for the next reader.
“A Magazine is an IPad that doesn’t work” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXV-yaFmQNk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXV-yaFmQNk)
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/16 "2015-09-27T20:35:34Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> In the old days, we used to read paper \*magazines \*(kind of like blogs, but static) about cameras, and get a greasy \*film \*on the pages from our fingers. A little-known job of 2nd ACs is to carefully polish the grease off each page for the next reader.
Oh! (That _is_ little-known!)
Gee, I wonder if that’s yet another of the jobs that robots will end up taking away from us…:eek:
(Seriously, I’m grateful for this thread because I hadn’t known about that unseen 1972 Sydney Pollack doco that Dewey Finn mentioned; very interesting that in the absence of the mechanical aid to synchronizing sound and picture provided by clapboards, the synchronizing apparently can’t be accomplished by human judgment, but requires computer work.)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clap-board-operator-question/732695/17 "2015-09-27T20:40:43Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> What are these strange objects of which you speak?
Hey, now! :mad:
[Me, last May](https://www.flickr.com/photos/27492458@N05/21578753349/in/dateposted-public/).